Pay property tax by Sept 30, avail 10% rebate

Aimed at encouraging stakeholders to pay the tax on time, the Punjab government has decided to give 10% rebate on the annual property tax amount provided it is deposited by September 30.

Local bodies department secretary Ashok Gupta, accompanied by minister Chunni Lal Bhagat, while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, said the civic body concerned would extend 10% rebate on annual property tax amount provided stakeholders deposited the current year tax liability by September 30.

Terming property tax as a revised version of house tax, Gupta said that to make taxation process transparent, it was also decided to provide online property tax calculator feature in the official websites of the civic bodies across the state so as to enable people to calculate the property tax payable in a financial year on their own.

"This will end the inspector raj. The users could assess tax amount payable round the clock and even during holidays by sitting at home," Gupta said, adding that the department was also trying to tie up with certain banks so that people could directly make payments in the banks without visiting the civic body office. "This will help us lessen the queue culture at civic bodies' offices. People will also be able to transfer funds online 24x7 and even during holidays," he added.

"Apprehension about imposition of hefty property tax was a misplaced notion. By providing online and offline tax calculator formula in public domain, we will be completely transparent to eliminate even minute chances of corruption. This will effectively check discretion of the officials concerned since awakened stakeholders will not pay any bribes," said Gupta.

On providing assistance to non-computer literates, he said specially trained individuals, including ex-servicemen, would be deployed at civic bodies to manually help people on this count.

The minister said property tax, being levied as per central government norms, was the minimum in Punjab in comparison to other states. He said the tax would be applicable from April 1, 2013 even as the state government was bringing in an ordinance in this regard.